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Cowboy Rubbed Rib Eye with Chocolate Stout Pan Sauce

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Cowboy Rubbed Rib Eye with Chocolate Stout Pan Sauce

Photo by Sarah Shatz

  • This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Broiled Steak
    This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Recipe with Fresh Ricotta
  • A&M's Testing Notes: Ground coffee, smoked paprika, cumin, ancho chile and brown sugar form an earthy, flinty rub that smells appealingly of wood smoke. Aliwaks borrows a smart technique from Indian cooking and...

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  • Chef

    Aliwaks's Notes: I started making this rub after reading about cowboy food, they carried with them coffee, salt, pepper and sugar...and they grilled their steaks in cast iron pans...since I do not often find...

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Serves 2

  1. Mix the coffee, salt, paprika, peppers & cumin together and toast lightly in pan until fragrant (alternatively you can toast whole spices then grind). Mix the spices with the sugar to make the rub.

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  2. Spread the rub all over the steak and let sit for awhile, if you do it the night before you'll have stronger flavor but if you do it right before serving it'll be good, too. (If you pre-rub and set it in the fridge, be sure to bring it up to room temperature before searing, so you do not shock the meat.)

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  3. Heat a cast iron pan until it's really really hot -- a drop of water flicked into the pan should sizzle and bounce. Add vegetable oil, wait a few seconds until the oil heats up, then place the steak in the pan. It should sizzle; leave it there, do not touch it at all for 3-4 minutes. It should be browning on the bottom. Then place it under a hot broiler and broil to medium rare or desired doneness.

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  4. Remove the steak and let rest on a warm plate, cover with aluminum foil.

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  5. Add the thyme sprig to the pan and let it saute a bit till it gets nice and fragrant. Pour in the chocolate stout and deglaze the pan. Add the beef broth, whisk together and reduce by half over medium heat.

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  6. Remove the thyme sprig and whisk in the butter. Season to taste.

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  7. Slice the steak on the bias and drizzle the sauce over top. This is YUMMY with creamed spinach and hash browns or baked potato and a nice big salad.

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Reply

We had this tonight for dinner and it was scrumptious. The technique, the flavors, both so great. Wish I'd tried it sooner

Garlic_cloves_by_sun_soaked_moon Reply

The only cast iron pan I have is more of a griddle, which I can't make a pan sauce in. Do you think I'd get similar results using an All Clad stainless steel pan?

Garlic_cloves_by_sun_soaked_moon Reply

The only cast iron pan I have is more of a griddle, which I can't make a pan sauce in. Do you think I'd get similar results using an All Clad stainless steel pan?

Reply

If I want to bake in the oven does anyone have any suggestions? I'm a new cook :)

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

You could do it in the oven, it might not get the ideal crust in you dont sear first, preheat the oven so it's really hot (500). You can also rub the steak and then grill it and use some beef stock with a pinch of rub to make the sauce on the stove. Start with cup and boil it until it's reduced by half.

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

I've been thinking about this salt issue and I wonder if since I am a careless, messy sort of person and tend to get the rub all over the place, maybe I am actually getting less salt on my steak than less careless people may be doing. But Merrill & Amanda seem to be careful and precise, so now I'm wondering if maybe it has to do with the thickness of the steak?

Maybe thicker steaks will absorb less salt?

Limonlemon... if your spices are smoking then they are burning... you want to just gently heat the essential oils so they rise up,

Use a really heavy pan on low heat, then lean in and sort of waft the air towards your nose if you smell toasty spices ..then take them off the flame,

R2d2 Reply

Aliwaks, i am a baker by trade and when i try a new recipe i try to follow pretty closely but i did have two steaks and they were a little thinner i put the rub on probably 4 hrs before hand too. i could not find thicker steaks but they were pretty close to an inch thick.
now that i have done this rub once i will adjust it to my tastes. I hope this helps. Thank you!

R2d2 Reply

we liked the steak but the salt was very over whelming for us so we will reduce the amount the next time. And maybe remove some of the rub before cooking it will burn and make it taste a little bitter.

Reply

I wasn't sure how this would be, because my husband hates coffee. Well It's fantastic.I added a little extra cumin and a little less coffee. He never knew it was in there. I am in love with this site.

Reply

How long do you broil the steak?

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

Kat so sorry didn't see this till this morning..hope it turned out well,Q

Dsc04839 Reply

This and the mashed potatoes with caramelized onions and goat cheese was valentine dinner with my husband. Added red and yellow beets and garlic spinach....yummm! This one is a keeper!

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

Sounds aaamaazing! ( & pretty!!!!)

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Thanks for answering. I am new to this fabulous site & I didn't know if anybody would reply. It helps me a lot.

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

Welcome to Food 52 Fran! How did it come out??

Reply

I have a question. I love coffee, my husband does not. He hates it. I would love to try this. Does it taste like coffee at all?

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

UMMM kind of...it's not like you go WOW coffee... if he really really hates coffee leave it out, or use like a teaspoon... you can substitute un-unsweetened cocoa powder.. I've made it that way before.. its different but it works.

Reply

I made this a couple of nights ago and, sadly, mine also suffered from over-salting. The pan sauce was incredible, and the rub smelled so delicious. I definitely want to try again! Next time I would cut down on the salt a lot, though... probably reduce to about 25%. I used Morton's kosher salt, so maybe that made a difference.

Reply

My husband loved it. Cumin and coffee goes wonderfully well together.

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I've made this twice, once with pork and another time with steak. The only downside of this recipe is that when you're toasting the spices, it *seriously* makes you cough. EVERYONE does. Just turn on a fan, open a few windows, and it'll pass. Other than that, it's delicious, even three days later as a leftover sandwich. Definitely a keeper.

Port-cuts Reply

This is the second time I've made this steak, and I have to agree that the two tablespoons of salt made the dish salty. The second time, I halved the salt in the rub and the steak was excellent. We use Diamond Crystal as well...This recipe is definitely a keeper, but I'm going to recommend less salt to those that might be salt-sensitive.

Cheese_for_twitter0001 Reply

Plans got foiled and I didn't have the bandwidth to make the pan sauce but the steaks with this rub were still outstanding!

Reply

we also use diamond crystal. it's just us, i suppose!

Reply

We tried this and found it to be salty - 2 T. kosher salt to 1 T. coffee? Made it a second time with less salt, something like 2 t. - and loved it, coffee flavor really came through with less salt. Did anyone else find this, or perhaps it's just our tastebuds?

Lnd_jen Reply

We didn't find it too salty. Which Kosher salt are you using? Morton's has more salinity than Diamond Crystal (which is what we use).

Maria_teresa_jorge_colour Reply

Congratulations for your winning recipe.
Would have never imagined to mix coffe in a rub but there you go, always learning.
Thank you for sharing it.

186003_1004761561_1198459_n Reply

I love this rub...soooo red wine friendly...my kind of meat preparation. CONGRATULATIONS!

N538322836_1930755_1183 Reply

Collin, true that, so it's not an all the way broiled steak. I start it in the stovetop and finish it in the broiler to cut down on the smokiness, and so I don't have to flip in the broiler, my broiler is on the bottom of my stove and I always get nervous flipping meat over down there. I appreciate your vote ;)

Reply

I'm going to vote for this one because it's delicious . . . but it's prettty obviously not a broiled steak. Just because it gets tossed under the broiler for a bit doesn't really cut it, because you could have just left it in the scorching-hot pan and accomplished the same thing. Still, a delicious recipe, and very like Dean Fearing's coffee-crusted tenderloin at the Mansion on Turtle Creek.

Lnd_jen Reply

We've got a weird, very low-profile broiler underneath our oven that our iron skillet is too big to fit under, so when we had this over the weekend my husband seared it on the stovetop and then chucked the iron skillet into a 500 degree oven just until the steak reached about 130-135. He let it rest tented in foil while I made the pan sauce back on the stovetop, and our steak turned out perfectly medium rare. I think the rub and the sauce had excellent, rich flavor, so it's still a great dish.

Reply

Mmmmmm. I'm going to try with Chimay, my favorite Belgium beer.

Mrs Reply

yummmm...i'm craving steak now. and coffee. and stout.

Lnd_jen Reply

We had this last night and it was fabulous. Great recipe!

186003_1004761561_1198459_n Reply

I love coffee rub...great with big red wines!

Lnd_jen Reply

I love steaks with a coffee rub, and your pan sauce sounds great.

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